(Yes, I'm botching a blushda fill at the beginning. I can usually do it, but wasn't cl;ear in the structure... the 3rd is longer, but not long enough here. Its supposed to be a bossa clave filled out with blushdas... with one blushda stretched over the two quarter notes on the 3rd note. I rushed it the same way both times

Also, I'm not really playing leftie in the first vid. I accidentally hit flip in movie maker w/o noticing and can't be bothered to redo it.

DSOP, Let me clarify (re: insurance.) The "required flood insurance' that is mandatory with a mortgage is a J O K E ! It covers "the structure" and that's it. It's completely different from a homeowners policy. It sure ain't cheap, and it only payed for drywall, hot water heater, and a partial rebuild of my boiler... That's IT! Labor to rebuild, NOPE! Washer and dryer, NOPE! Lost income, NOPE! And don't even ask about contents, NOPE! Luckily (smartly,) I got all my instruments out the week preceding the storm, (although I still lost $750 worth of cases, which doesn't even scratch the surface of contents lost.)

Granted, I chose to live here, and this was "the 100 year flood." But insurance is a joke. It's the same deal as when you pay ridiculous amounts for car insurance for YEARS, and after a minor $1500 accident, your premiums double... They make your claim back in a years time! Don't get me started! The insurance business makes the music business look like The Girl Scouts. Anyway.......

As I have said, I fully realize that I am one of the LUCKY ones. I only spent a few days in a shelter, and got no water in my "living space," and had a house to eventually come back to, so in the grand scheme of things, I'm lucky, and I thank GOD every day for that!!!

Anyway (enough of that!)...

Thanks Rodge, there are some nice drums there (I have to admit.) I really get a thrill out of finding the "perfect" snare (and ride cymbal) for every gig. Sure I have some really good "all purpose" instruments, but when I spend some time picking out the specific sounds (that I hear in my head) for a gig, and a bandleader, producer, bass player, MD, engineer, or listener comments on the sounds that I picked out... I just get a real thrill, and sense of pride, over (that part of) a job well done.

I always say that it comes from listening to WAAAY too much Steve Jordan as a kid (if that's possible.) But watching him work and pick sounds for different cuts of a project, and talking with Artie about it, it just always strikes me as the thing to do.

I also let students pick the snare that they want to play on for the lesson, it inspires them, and keeps them asking questions and learning.

Thanks on the Gretsch's too! That black Gretsch kit took a long time of gathering Gretsch orphans, but now I have Black Nitron Gretsch's (with various badges) in 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, and bass drums in 18, 20, 22, 24, so I can pick and choose the "right" drums for the gig too. Precision Drum Company did some re-wraps, and they keep he edges in good shape too, and the RIMS and the Yamaha mounting hardware helps as well. I have the same setup in a set of Yamaha Tour Customs (GREAT drums!) as well.

I'm glad the new studio-room is done, it was a loooong haul. I learned a ton about (mostly construction type) stuff that I had NO IDEA about, and I guess that will help me out in the future.

Thanks also to whomever started this thread as well, it gave me somewhat of a push (inspiration) to get done, so I could post some pix too. At the end, believe it or not, inspiration was tough to come by. So a big THANK YOU for that!!! And thanks to Todd for those great shots of his drum crib (that we've all seen and drooled over.) I printed a few out and hung them up to just look at for further inspiration (the light at the end of the tunnel) and ideas. The good thing is all along the way there was plenty of time to do some pretty serious listening, I'll post about that sometime soon.

Keep the pix coming, I really enjoy looking at all of the studios, and reading the comments, y'all are a trip!

Big drum love to all the HOD folk, maybe now I'll be around a little bit more; But I have some practicing to do, after 8 months of only gigs, teaching, and the drum pad, it's time for some serious practicing (again.) Swinging sticks is soooo much more fun than swinging a hammer!

Here's my space. Not exactly optimal, but it's what I have to live with for now. I live in a townhouse community and have neighbors connected on both sides. I looked into soundproofing but ended up being out of my budget and beyond the scope of modifications I wanted to make to my house being that I'd like to move within 3 years.

So this setup allows me to work on independence and motions but is lacking in terms of building touch. Dynamcis are hard to gauge as well.

In case anyone is interested...The drums are Premier XPK's from the 80s or 90s. Fantastic drums that can be picked up for a song. Although I gig with my Yamaha Maple Custom Absolutes, I still take these drums out occasionally. I can't say enough good about them. The snare is a FUGLY Ludwig Supraphonic. Ive never seen one with so much pitting but I absolutely love it. My gigging snare is a 5 1/2 x 14 black Beauty.

Cymbals here are Paiste 2002s. My x-hat is an 11" Zildjian Oriental over a 14" K China. Absolutely great combo for trash hats!

The thing on my kick is a wad of foam held in place with some 3M blue painter's tape. I use 3M exclusively.